One hallmark of a profession is a body of knowledge supported by high-quality independent education, including academic programs. CXPA has identified more than 70 colleges and universities that offer at least some customer experience coursework, including offerings from CXPA Recognized Training Providers SEDA Executive Education and CX University. This week, CXPA celebrates Michigan State University’s announcement of a master’s degree in Customer Experience Management. Incorporating thirty credit hours designed to be earned over twenty months, the extensive program indicates the depth and rigor of the knowledge one needs to master to effectively lead a CX program. Academic programs are an excellent complement to CXPA’s Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) credential -- academic courses teach knowledge, whereas CCXP is an independent measure of whether an individual has the work experience to be prepared to lead a CX program and can pass a rigorous examination on the CX body of knowledge.
Another aspect of a true professional body of knowledge is academic research and resources. CXPA is pleased to see the continued growth of academic CX research, including a research study by professors at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on the effectiveness of survey invitation email subject lines. If you haven’t already done so, please take two minutes to participate in the survey and help us to support academic study of CX. (Look for results to be covered in a future CXPA CX Engine issue.) We are also thrilled that SAGE is preparing a Customer Experience Collection to help academic curriculum be better connected to the real-world practice of CX.
CXPA applauds the continued growth of customer experience research and curriculum in Higher Education.
photo credit: Ken Lund on Flickr under creative commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/